RELIGIOUS EDUCATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVII, Issue 5830, 27 July 1880, Page 3

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —Ignorance has been blamoj, and with some justice, for the bulk of human depravity and misconduct. Consequently there lias been quito an outcry for intellectual education as a remedy lor, or a preventive of, crime ; and doubtless all that has been done in this matter is a step in the right direction. At the same time it is easy for us to over-rato the results, either actual or possible, of even eucli a good thing as intellectual education. We do so if we think that it will supply the placo of moral teaching and training. As a matter of fact there is no necessary conncc tiou between the knowledge of the multiplication table and right feeling and conduct. And to suppose that attention to ono part of man's complex nature is sufficient is to ignore faotu. No one thinks of strengthening the legs by exercising the fingers. It is equally inoongraous to expect a child to grow up to bo a virtuous man or woman, when the intellect alone is directly oultiyatod. Tha records of our Courts of justice supply numerous examples of intellectual knowledge and training turned to base purposes. If additional eridenoe bs needed, the subjoined ortraot on " M ihilism " will both illustrate and confirm the foregoing remarks. Auioug the Nihilists are to be found men and women of high birth, of great ability, and of excellent attainments. It will be seen how such advantages can be misused. Koowlodge is, iudeed, power, but whether for good or evil depends entirely on the moral state of the possessor. —I am, &c, J. Bates. Nihilism cannot bo better described than by the Nihilists themselves ia their speeches, proclamations, and writings. Here is a iipeech, made in ISGS, at Geneva, by the father of Nihilism, Michael Bakunin: — "Brethren, I come to announce to you a new gospel, which must penetrate to tho very ends of the world. Tuis gospel admits of no half measures and hesitations. Tho old world must be destroyed and replaced by a new one. The lie mußfc be stamped out and give way to truth. It is our mission to destroy the lie, and to effect this we laust begin at the very commencement. Now, the beginning of all those lies, which have

uiu yuor worm in slavery, is God, For many hundred years monarchs aud priests Lava inoculated the heartß and minds of mankind with this notion of a Gad ruling over the world This God is nothing but the pereoniQcation of absolute tyranny, and has been invented with a view of eitheir frighLening or alluring uino-tenths of the human race into submission to tho remaining tenth. . . . Tear out of your hearts tho belief in the existence of God ; for as long as an atom of that eilly superstition remains in your minds ycu will never know what freedom is. When you liavo got rid of belief in this priest-begotten God, and when, moreover, you are convinced that your existence, and that of tho surrounding world, is duo to the conglomeration of atoms, iu accordance with the laws of gravity and attraction, thoD, and then only, you will have accomplished tho firat step towards liberty, and you will experience lees difiiculty ia ridding your minda of that second lie which tyranny haa invented. Tho first lie is God ; tho second lie is Kight. Might invented tho fiction of right in order to insure and strengthen her reign,—that right which sho herself does not heed, and which only serves as a barrier against any attacks which may bo made by trembling and stupid masses of mankind. Might, my friends, farms tho sole groundwork of society. Might makes aud unmakes laws, and that might should be in the hands of the majority. . . . Once penetrated with a clear conviction of your own might, you will be able to destroy this mere notion of right. And when you have freed your minds from tho fear of a God, and from that childish respect for the fictiou of right, then all the remaining chains which bind you— and which arc called Boienoe, civilisation, property, marriage, morality, aud justice— Trill snap aeundor like threads. Let your own happiness be your only law. But in order to get this law recognised, and to bring about the proper relations wich ehould exist between the majority and minority of mankind, you must destroy everything which exists in the shape or state of social organisation. So educate yoursolvcs and your children that, when tho great moment for constituting tho netv world arrives, your eyes may not be blinded and deceived by tho falsehoods of the tyrants of tlirouo and altar. Our first work must bo destruction and annihilation of everything as it now exists. You must accustom yourselves to destroy everything, the good with tho bad ; for if but an acom of this old world remains the new will never bo created."—From the tfitteteenth Century, tor Jauuary, 1880.